Another reason why NDP should not be in power. Did they not get enough $ from the increase in property taxes? How about just balancing the budget better? Spending the money in a more effective way instead of taking and taking? Sounds like bullying....
Andrew Webb - 6 years ago
And another thing... If you own a home of aspire to own a home in the lower mainland, guess who is next for these taxes? UBC Prof Paul Kershaw is calling for these taxes to be applied to all homes over $1M. That is practically everything in the entire Fraser Valley, or soon will be! We all know that this $3M threshold is a trojan horse to get this unprecedented tax model into the system and then Eby, James and Horgan will run wild taxing every home that sits on a piece of land.
The Canada that I know is hardworking and celebrates success. It does not exproprirate the assets of those who have worked hard, and paid their fair share of taxes. It is wrong for Eby to associate money laundering and house flipping with the vast majority of working homeowners. He needs to correctly focus on and tackle the scammers and tax cheats, but leave hardworking homeowners alone!
Andrew - 6 years ago
David Eby said this on CKNW Monday morning: "Deferred taxes are a lien on the home and therefore a government asset." I don't know about you all, but I am not cool with my home becoming a government asset under any conditions. Stop for a second and think about what this all means!
Wendi - 6 years ago
Whoever says YES is a total dick! If you have the common sense of equality and understand the power that you will give to NDP party if you vote YES, because this tax doesn't affect you, you are contributing to this bullying tactic. The 2% affected, work hard may also struggle, to continue to maintain a life style and it is unfair to feel penalize. If this tax really is deemed a "must" and affects everyone, why not spread it out for everyone so the impact is not so drastic. Why point fingers and make it the responsibility of the 3M + homeowners group of equally hard working home owners. And if this is deemed a "SCHOOL TAX", to build our generation, why not just form a F'AMILY TAX" that affects people with children then? We all need to come together to support one another as a community and don't allow the NDP to create a division!!!!
Ellen Parsons - 6 years ago
First of all - homes over 1.65 M already are not eligible for the basic homeowner's grant in Vancouver which means owners are paying more in municipal taxes than many. Also if the NDP's policies to reduce housing costs are effective and homeowner's values fall - are homeowner's getting that additional tax monies they paid or deferred (government now holding a mortgage on these homes) on the UNREALIZED capital gain back?? Also are the NDP going to tax unrealized gains or assets in the stock market or any appreciating asset?
Jay - 6 years ago
Everyone likes a tax that someone else has to pay. How can a tax which targets 2% of homes be fair. Since the tax is immediately capitalized, the present value of the future taxes has already been deducted from the value of the affected homes so the effect of the tax is expropriation.
Tamara - 6 years ago
If the NDP wanted to be fair and to be non-divisive, they would have slightly raised the income tax...you know...actual money that people have (and perhaps chosen to go after those who may not be paying their fair share, which the majority of us are actually doing). They chose not to because they clearly want to create another money stream. All of you who can't see this for the slippery slope that it is are incredibly naive. This is a new form of speculative taxation. This will be the beginning. You are lacking in sympathy now because they are coming after higher priced homes, just wait until this has opened the door to now come after after the speculative value of your pensions, RRSPs, and stocks etc...
Thomas Black - 6 years ago
Another socialist tax grab, fully expected when the NDP gained power.
More to come
Tony - 6 years ago
The NDP had a rare opportunity to unite on important issues that everyone cases about - better communities, affordability. Instead, John Horgan's blunt tax instrument has cynically pitted citizen against citizen, creating divisions between neighbourhoods. Witness the trolling on social media. News flash Patti Bacchus et al: Many, many west side homeowners sacrificed saved, and took a lot of risk (and high mortgages). They largely are from diverse and well-educated backgrounds. They care deeply about their families, friends, and Vancouver. David Eby is pushing hard on divisive politics that will eventually end everything he's worked hard for in Point Grey/Kits.
Ken - 6 years ago
All homeowners need to be concerned.
At some point the tax threshold will be decreased to $2 mil homes then to $1 mil homes.
Frank Valladucci - 6 years ago
Why not just add a "family" tax. If you've got dependents then you pay some extra tax. Everyone else is already chipping into an educational system they're no longer using. If we need a few extra bucks, get it from the people using the service. Kind of like when we had bridge tolls. Use the bridge? Chip in a little extra!
marty - 6 years ago
I support this. It is being misrepresented by many for their own political agenda-B.C Liberals etc....it is only applied on the amount OVER 3 million, that seems to be ignored. Also if you are 55 and over you can defer your property taxes. People have options. No one is feeling sorry for a bunch of whiny homeowners who have no awareness of the average working person's reality in this whole region. Most are barely hanging on here. Half of Vancouverite's are renters, don't you think some of them would love to have your "problem"? Keep it up Mr.Eby.
Ian Carmichael - 6 years ago
This is reminiscent of the highland clearences. Tax owners out of their homes so that property developers can move in and sell the plots to rich immigrants and high tech employees. The worst form of theft, done for a superficially good cause, but really just an envy tax by a Marxist and self serving political party.
Matt Blanchard - 6 years ago
There should be a resident homeowner's exemption that reduces the load of the new tax. Not as much as the notorious Proposition 13 in California, that froze residential taxes! But something that enables seniors who have owned their home for more than XX years to be exempt from the tax.
Stan Lee - 6 years ago
Vancouver is a world class city now. Homeowners made smart decisions to buy early. Sorry renters missed the boat and it's not coming back. Either accept you will rent all your life or move away. And rents will go up and up because we world class now.
Tom - 6 years ago
I strongly support the tax. It’s investing in our future generation. How many $3 million and above properties we have in BC? May be 3%... May be we should have more brackets -
$3 million to $5 million
$5 million to $10 million
$10 million to $20 million
$20 million & above
Looking at the values these are minuscule. People who are willing to pay so much won’t mind to chip in few extra cents for our future generations.
Garu Chen - 6 years ago
This poll is dumb, a person can vote as many times as they want -which is likely what many have done.
Danielle - 6 years ago
What is this poll supposed to demonstrate, since one person can vote over and over and over again?
For all the wealthy crying poor who, apparently, have no sympathy for anyone with real problems, I'm just going to leave this right here: https://doodles.mountainmath.ca/blog/2018/05/28/school-tax-calculator/
Lucy - 6 years ago
We already pay high taxes on our homes. How can Mr. Eby justify this when he did not run on this policy?
Simon Nala - 6 years ago
As a homeowner affected by this, I fully support this measure.
If you can no longer afford this tax, it's a HUGE sign that you should sell your property because you cannot afford it anymore.
I bought my house 2 years ago for ~5M after being taxed through the gills on both income and capital gains over the years.
I think it's only fair that wealth is taxed apples to apples. If not this tax, then I propose the NDP eliminate principal residence capital gains exemption. A lot of those protesting like John Lee have made significant gains on their properties. Instead of taxing them on unrealized gains, the govt should levy the same capital gains tax on sale of properties that it does on any other investment.
Thomas - 6 years ago
I do not support the tax AT ALL. I am unaffected by this tax and would not have to pay $0.01 more in taxes personally, but I whole-heartily object to attacking a targeted segment of society to line the NDPs coffers just because they can sell the optics. Increase income tax is you want to go after the wealthy. The logic with this tax is well.. basically, non-existent.. but the NDP can spin it without getting too devastated in the polls..
Chris - 6 years ago
It's simple, the NDP are willing to unfairly tax/target a specific segment of the population to increase general revenue because they do not see this politically harming themselves. They identified a tax that they can sell to the general unaffected populous (as they won't feel sorry for those people who own 'high-valued' properties). The logical, and fair, thing to do would have been to increase income tax a fraction of a percentage - perhaps even for the higher income bands. That way they would 1) transparently be bringing in general revenue (no bs hiding behind a 'school tax'), 2) appropriately targeting the rich (high-income earners), and 3) fairly distributing the tax across many geographical areas and different segments of BC. That said, increasing income tax is a political bomb, so they want to stay as far away from that as possible. The NDP is already hanging from a thread, but being scared to do 'the right thing' will undoubtedly sever that thread a lot faster than if they stepped up the to plate and show all British Columbians that they are not driving by sub-politics but rather what is best for the province.
John Lee - 6 years ago
Stuart MacMAhon, if the price is 3,000,100 of course it's peanuts. But what if the price is $6,000,000? That is $10,000 FROM THE AFTER TAX INCOME. I know you'd say "it's ok, since you have a $6M house, $10K is peanuts". But keep in mind that back in 2008, I worked so hard, abandoned all branded coffees and weekend party, with the help from parents and in laws, managed to buy a house at $1.7M which today becomes $6M. If today my house becomes $1M from $1.7M, will the government compensate me???
My income is still the same with 2008, so extra $10K per month will send my family into long term suffer. And the worst part here, it looks like you and your not-doing-well-colleagues are happy to see me suffering. Sick Society.
stuart macmahon - 6 years ago
i support the tax. its such a small amount, only 0.2% on the value *above* 3 million. so if your house is 3,000,100, you only pay the extra 0.2% on the 100 not the full 3 mill. this is PEANUTS.
OMG - 6 years ago
After "hearing" the protest to the speculation tax and the school tax, and the comparative non-protest to the foreign tax, the truth seems to be that metro Vancouver's real estate issues are borne in Canada.
Ken - 6 years ago
The wealthy still can defer this tax or sell property as they say to people, if you can't afford Vancouver! They want only people in BC that can afford their asking lrices and pray for flipping to take place,if selling,they want their cake and eat it too! When the marginalized people were asking for an increase in the minimum wages,these afe the same people who sream no,thats way the party of corrution froze increasing the min.for 8 long painful years and now increases are coming and they are complaining again and crying they can't find workers,they should look in the mirror not just cry for another flood of TFW's!
Wally - 6 years ago
David Eby & his crew are beyond belief. NDP does the same thing over & over again. When will people ever learn. Tax, tax & more taxes & if that’s not enough, make up some new ones to pay for political promises that are just plain b
George - 6 years ago
First...this is NOT a ‘School Tax’ as the money raised will go into General Revenue...so the NDP is being dishonest. Second...it unfairly targets the wealthy who are already paying more than their fair share of taxes. Thirdly...those in favour of this tax are either exempt, and it won’t affect their hard earned after tax dollars or pension savings, and they don’t mind the racist undertones of a tax that unfairly affects mostly one racial group. Do we really want to follow the Trump lead and begin to make policy that is racist and purely a money grab?
Bruce - 6 years ago
Let’s just have the guts to BAN foreign ownership of property anywhere in BC and we wouldn’t have most of the problems we have today with real estate prices, Home vacancy, speculation taxes, casino money laundering... etc . etc. etc. ....
Allan - 6 years ago
We also worked hard under high interest rates to buy our homes years ago we sacrificed entertainment for morgage payments. Now I'm disabled and retired, and you want me to go into debt again. We worked hard all our lives to get what we have. It's ours not yours! I support better childcare that is affordable. Train unemployed mothers for childcare and have the government supply daycare centers throughout BC. This would help the younger generation to start saving for real estate or just to pay the rent
Mudit - 6 years ago
Why tax only the home owner. Everyone should chip in. They should tax all the home if that is what the govt wants to do. May be the percentage will vary but tax all . Taxing one group is unfair
Another reason why NDP should not be in power. Did they not get enough $ from the increase in property taxes? How about just balancing the budget better? Spending the money in a more effective way instead of taking and taking? Sounds like bullying....
And another thing... If you own a home of aspire to own a home in the lower mainland, guess who is next for these taxes? UBC Prof Paul Kershaw is calling for these taxes to be applied to all homes over $1M. That is practically everything in the entire Fraser Valley, or soon will be! We all know that this $3M threshold is a trojan horse to get this unprecedented tax model into the system and then Eby, James and Horgan will run wild taxing every home that sits on a piece of land.
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/ubc-prof-calls-for-sweeping-new-housing-tax-1.3939353
The Canada that I know is hardworking and celebrates success. It does not exproprirate the assets of those who have worked hard, and paid their fair share of taxes. It is wrong for Eby to associate money laundering and house flipping with the vast majority of working homeowners. He needs to correctly focus on and tackle the scammers and tax cheats, but leave hardworking homeowners alone!
David Eby said this on CKNW Monday morning: "Deferred taxes are a lien on the home and therefore a government asset." I don't know about you all, but I am not cool with my home becoming a government asset under any conditions. Stop for a second and think about what this all means!
Whoever says YES is a total dick! If you have the common sense of equality and understand the power that you will give to NDP party if you vote YES, because this tax doesn't affect you, you are contributing to this bullying tactic. The 2% affected, work hard may also struggle, to continue to maintain a life style and it is unfair to feel penalize. If this tax really is deemed a "must" and affects everyone, why not spread it out for everyone so the impact is not so drastic. Why point fingers and make it the responsibility of the 3M + homeowners group of equally hard working home owners. And if this is deemed a "SCHOOL TAX", to build our generation, why not just form a F'AMILY TAX" that affects people with children then? We all need to come together to support one another as a community and don't allow the NDP to create a division!!!!
First of all - homes over 1.65 M already are not eligible for the basic homeowner's grant in Vancouver which means owners are paying more in municipal taxes than many. Also if the NDP's policies to reduce housing costs are effective and homeowner's values fall - are homeowner's getting that additional tax monies they paid or deferred (government now holding a mortgage on these homes) on the UNREALIZED capital gain back?? Also are the NDP going to tax unrealized gains or assets in the stock market or any appreciating asset?
Everyone likes a tax that someone else has to pay. How can a tax which targets 2% of homes be fair. Since the tax is immediately capitalized, the present value of the future taxes has already been deducted from the value of the affected homes so the effect of the tax is expropriation.
If the NDP wanted to be fair and to be non-divisive, they would have slightly raised the income tax...you know...actual money that people have (and perhaps chosen to go after those who may not be paying their fair share, which the majority of us are actually doing). They chose not to because they clearly want to create another money stream. All of you who can't see this for the slippery slope that it is are incredibly naive. This is a new form of speculative taxation. This will be the beginning. You are lacking in sympathy now because they are coming after higher priced homes, just wait until this has opened the door to now come after after the speculative value of your pensions, RRSPs, and stocks etc...
Another socialist tax grab, fully expected when the NDP gained power.
More to come
The NDP had a rare opportunity to unite on important issues that everyone cases about - better communities, affordability. Instead, John Horgan's blunt tax instrument has cynically pitted citizen against citizen, creating divisions between neighbourhoods. Witness the trolling on social media. News flash Patti Bacchus et al: Many, many west side homeowners sacrificed saved, and took a lot of risk (and high mortgages). They largely are from diverse and well-educated backgrounds. They care deeply about their families, friends, and Vancouver. David Eby is pushing hard on divisive politics that will eventually end everything he's worked hard for in Point Grey/Kits.
All homeowners need to be concerned.
At some point the tax threshold will be decreased to $2 mil homes then to $1 mil homes.
Why not just add a "family" tax. If you've got dependents then you pay some extra tax. Everyone else is already chipping into an educational system they're no longer using. If we need a few extra bucks, get it from the people using the service. Kind of like when we had bridge tolls. Use the bridge? Chip in a little extra!
I support this. It is being misrepresented by many for their own political agenda-B.C Liberals etc....it is only applied on the amount OVER 3 million, that seems to be ignored. Also if you are 55 and over you can defer your property taxes. People have options. No one is feeling sorry for a bunch of whiny homeowners who have no awareness of the average working person's reality in this whole region. Most are barely hanging on here. Half of Vancouverite's are renters, don't you think some of them would love to have your "problem"? Keep it up Mr.Eby.
This is reminiscent of the highland clearences. Tax owners out of their homes so that property developers can move in and sell the plots to rich immigrants and high tech employees. The worst form of theft, done for a superficially good cause, but really just an envy tax by a Marxist and self serving political party.
There should be a resident homeowner's exemption that reduces the load of the new tax. Not as much as the notorious Proposition 13 in California, that froze residential taxes! But something that enables seniors who have owned their home for more than XX years to be exempt from the tax.
Vancouver is a world class city now. Homeowners made smart decisions to buy early. Sorry renters missed the boat and it's not coming back. Either accept you will rent all your life or move away. And rents will go up and up because we world class now.
I strongly support the tax. It’s investing in our future generation. How many $3 million and above properties we have in BC? May be 3%... May be we should have more brackets -
$3 million to $5 million
$5 million to $10 million
$10 million to $20 million
$20 million & above
Looking at the values these are minuscule. People who are willing to pay so much won’t mind to chip in few extra cents for our future generations.
This poll is dumb, a person can vote as many times as they want -which is likely what many have done.
What is this poll supposed to demonstrate, since one person can vote over and over and over again?
For all the wealthy crying poor who, apparently, have no sympathy for anyone with real problems, I'm just going to leave this right here: https://doodles.mountainmath.ca/blog/2018/05/28/school-tax-calculator/
We already pay high taxes on our homes. How can Mr. Eby justify this when he did not run on this policy?
As a homeowner affected by this, I fully support this measure.
If you can no longer afford this tax, it's a HUGE sign that you should sell your property because you cannot afford it anymore.
I bought my house 2 years ago for ~5M after being taxed through the gills on both income and capital gains over the years.
I think it's only fair that wealth is taxed apples to apples. If not this tax, then I propose the NDP eliminate principal residence capital gains exemption. A lot of those protesting like John Lee have made significant gains on their properties. Instead of taxing them on unrealized gains, the govt should levy the same capital gains tax on sale of properties that it does on any other investment.
I do not support the tax AT ALL. I am unaffected by this tax and would not have to pay $0.01 more in taxes personally, but I whole-heartily object to attacking a targeted segment of society to line the NDPs coffers just because they can sell the optics. Increase income tax is you want to go after the wealthy. The logic with this tax is well.. basically, non-existent.. but the NDP can spin it without getting too devastated in the polls..
It's simple, the NDP are willing to unfairly tax/target a specific segment of the population to increase general revenue because they do not see this politically harming themselves. They identified a tax that they can sell to the general unaffected populous (as they won't feel sorry for those people who own 'high-valued' properties). The logical, and fair, thing to do would have been to increase income tax a fraction of a percentage - perhaps even for the higher income bands. That way they would 1) transparently be bringing in general revenue (no bs hiding behind a 'school tax'), 2) appropriately targeting the rich (high-income earners), and 3) fairly distributing the tax across many geographical areas and different segments of BC. That said, increasing income tax is a political bomb, so they want to stay as far away from that as possible. The NDP is already hanging from a thread, but being scared to do 'the right thing' will undoubtedly sever that thread a lot faster than if they stepped up the to plate and show all British Columbians that they are not driving by sub-politics but rather what is best for the province.
Stuart MacMAhon, if the price is 3,000,100 of course it's peanuts. But what if the price is $6,000,000? That is $10,000 FROM THE AFTER TAX INCOME. I know you'd say "it's ok, since you have a $6M house, $10K is peanuts". But keep in mind that back in 2008, I worked so hard, abandoned all branded coffees and weekend party, with the help from parents and in laws, managed to buy a house at $1.7M which today becomes $6M. If today my house becomes $1M from $1.7M, will the government compensate me???
My income is still the same with 2008, so extra $10K per month will send my family into long term suffer. And the worst part here, it looks like you and your not-doing-well-colleagues are happy to see me suffering. Sick Society.
i support the tax. its such a small amount, only 0.2% on the value *above* 3 million. so if your house is 3,000,100, you only pay the extra 0.2% on the 100 not the full 3 mill. this is PEANUTS.
After "hearing" the protest to the speculation tax and the school tax, and the comparative non-protest to the foreign tax, the truth seems to be that metro Vancouver's real estate issues are borne in Canada.
The wealthy still can defer this tax or sell property as they say to people, if you can't afford Vancouver! They want only people in BC that can afford their asking lrices and pray for flipping to take place,if selling,they want their cake and eat it too! When the marginalized people were asking for an increase in the minimum wages,these afe the same people who sream no,thats way the party of corrution froze increasing the min.for 8 long painful years and now increases are coming and they are complaining again and crying they can't find workers,they should look in the mirror not just cry for another flood of TFW's!
David Eby & his crew are beyond belief. NDP does the same thing over & over again. When will people ever learn. Tax, tax & more taxes & if that’s not enough, make up some new ones to pay for political promises that are just plain b
First...this is NOT a ‘School Tax’ as the money raised will go into General Revenue...so the NDP is being dishonest. Second...it unfairly targets the wealthy who are already paying more than their fair share of taxes. Thirdly...those in favour of this tax are either exempt, and it won’t affect their hard earned after tax dollars or pension savings, and they don’t mind the racist undertones of a tax that unfairly affects mostly one racial group. Do we really want to follow the Trump lead and begin to make policy that is racist and purely a money grab?
Let’s just have the guts to BAN foreign ownership of property anywhere in BC and we wouldn’t have most of the problems we have today with real estate prices, Home vacancy, speculation taxes, casino money laundering... etc . etc. etc. ....
We also worked hard under high interest rates to buy our homes years ago we sacrificed entertainment for morgage payments. Now I'm disabled and retired, and you want me to go into debt again. We worked hard all our lives to get what we have. It's ours not yours! I support better childcare that is affordable. Train unemployed mothers for childcare and have the government supply daycare centers throughout BC. This would help the younger generation to start saving for real estate or just to pay the rent
Why tax only the home owner. Everyone should chip in. They should tax all the home if that is what the govt wants to do. May be the percentage will vary but tax all . Taxing one group is unfair